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Jeannette Reyes, a DC news anchor for Good Day DC, brilliantly lent her professional vocal skills to turn the tables on a scam caller.
A video clip of her pranking the scammer claiming he was from the FBI to collect an outstanding balance of over $2,500 has gone viral with over 101K likes on Twitter and 5.3 million views on TikTok.
"Spam callers, I'm tired of 'em," she tweeted. "Let's have some fun."
Spam callers, I\u2019m tired of\u2019em. Let\u2019s have some fun pic.twitter.com/ULTh7cEVTM— Jeannette Reyes (@Jeannette Reyes) 1624582681
"I've been getting really annoyed with these people," said Reyes as she showed the camera the incoming call visible on her smartphone screen.
"I'm sick of them. So let's have a little fun."
Reyes answered the call and put it on speaker so viewers could listen in. The man on the other end, "Jason O'Neil," claimed he was from the FBI and called to inform Reyes there was an outstanding warrant out for her arrest and she owed $2,792.33.
She obliged Jason by telling him she didn't know about the balance and asked if she could pay for it now.
The man, presumably surprised by her easy cooperation, said she could make the payment of at least $2,500 with a debit or credit card.
"Sure, I have a card right now," she told the caller. He then asked her to go ahead and provide the number.
She proceeded to give him the digits – not to a card number – but to a countdown anchors use to indicate they are going live.
"It's 3, 2, 1, … Good evening," she said with an abrupt change in her speaking tone.
"We are live on television right now with an investigation into scam callers."
"We have the FBI on the line. They are tracking this phone number as we speak. Sir, what is your full name again?"
The response was an audible click indicating the scammer had hung up. Mission accomplished.
"We have the FBI on the phone tracking this number as we speak, sir what is your full name again?"\n\nSpam caller...pic.twitter.com/klfeJUn8sz— \ud83d\udc30\ud83d\udc3e\ud83d\udc3f #Elani fan \ud83d\udc3f\ud83d\udc3e\ud83d\udc30 Proud TJ Fan (@\ud83d\udc30\ud83d\udc3e\ud83d\udc3f #Elani fan \ud83d\udc3f\ud83d\udc3e\ud83d\udc30 Proud TJ Fan) 1624595186
@Big_Butta88 Spot em, got em— Butta Baby\ud83d\udc8b (@Butta Baby\ud83d\udc8b) 1624728819
The countdown took me out— Vaxine Shaw, Attorney at Law\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2696\ufe0f (@Vaxine Shaw, Attorney at Law\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2696\ufe0f) 1624585263
I got scared and I\u2019m not even the scammer— youtube/Alonzo (@youtube/Alonzo) 1624592296
The sad part is elderly people are taken advantage of by the scammers— Mels (@Mels) 1624591053
Viewers shared their own experiences with spam callers and how they've dealt with them.
They\u2019re always calling me about unpaid taxes, an unnamed account balance or saying that I didn\u2019t pay my daughter\u2019s doctor bill. I don\u2019t have a daughter.— PAPA Rose \ud83e\udd40 (@PAPA Rose \ud83e\udd40) 1624589254
Whenever the FOP calls me asking for money I ask them if Black Lives Matter. They hang up immediately— ToniC (@ToniC) 1624590386
I be like \u201cThank you for calling Dominos pizza, how can i assist you?\u201d Boy they be like uhhhhh wrong number lol— ReesyScreams (@ReesyScreams) 1624601612
I always just answer with \u201cWestwood sperm bank you spank it we bank it how can I help you?\u201d— jasamiscumming2 (@jasamiscumming2) 1624598735
That is BRILLIANT!\nI use a blocker that has an auto-responder bot that picks up the call and talks recorded nonsense to the scammer until they hang up. Right now, I'm using the Kermit the Frog bot.— SuzieQ70 \ud83c\udf0a \ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\udf08Ally (@SuzieQ70 \ud83c\udf0a \ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\udf08Ally) 1624626173
I\u2019m laughing so hard! They tell me at least twice a week that I will be arrested for various reasons and I\u2019ve yet to be arrested even when I tell them that I need to get my hair done before they arrest me because I\u2019m going to look my best for the mugshot.— TwitTart (@TwitTart) 1624657306
I once told a scammer I couldn\u2019t answer for the the homeowner because I didn\u2019t live there\u2014I said I was there to rob the place.— Allison Floyd (@Allison Floyd) 1625122146
I say to them "Hang on my husband works in the fraud department of the police. He says I should always put calls on loudspeaker to record just incase they are fraudulent. You don't mind do you?"\nUsually there is a click as they hangup.— Leni WEAR A GODDAMN MASK Morgan \ud83d\udc99 (@Leni WEAR A GODDAMN MASK Morgan \ud83d\udc99) 1624627038
Impressed viewers wanted to use her anchor voice as a sound byte to combat their own intrusive phone calls.
Can I please have a recording of you doing this for all the scam calls I get?!— Sierra Fox (@Sierra Fox) 1624583063
I need this on recording so I can play it— \ud83c\udd7e\ufe0fBrutusGaming \u26be\ufe0f\ud83e\udd43\ud83c\udfc1\ud83d\udc9a (@\ud83c\udd7e\ufe0fBrutusGaming \u26be\ufe0f\ud83e\udd43\ud83c\udfc1\ud83d\udc9a) 1624588335
When they requested her for a recording in the comments, Reyes happily delivered.
"Ask and you shall receive," wrote Reyes in a TikTok post.
@msnewslady Reply to @ladiimedussa456 ask and you shall receive 😌 #scam#anchor#voice#fbi#spam
Reyes – who has had enough of frequent scammer calls – told Buzzfeed News:
"I know the anchor voice can be a little jarring when it comes out of nowhere, especially when you're being told you're on live television with the FBI on the line."
"It took quite a few tries to get a human scammer (instead of a robocall). I almost didn't post it because I wanted the scammer to actually react. But I guess abruptly hanging up is just as good."
She added:
"I've seen so many heartbreaking comments from people saying they or their loved ones have fallen for these scams. And I get it, it seems believable in the moment."
She cautioned listeners to "err on the side of caution" and to ask questions.
"Scammers will typically try to pressure you into paying up right then and there," she said.
"If they won't let you call them back to verify on your own whether the call is legitimate, it likely isn't."